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Cass McCombs Interior Live Oak We had mixed feelings seeing McCombs pop up on the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass line up. He’s been on our radar since his 2009 release Catacombs, but while most of his stuff is well crafted and listenable, there’s not a lot we love about it. That’s how we feel about this release – “I Never Dream About Trains” is a good song, but the rest of it we can do without -- and about seeing him at HSBG. Yeah, that’s fine, but if there’s something better, let’s do that. Max Gomez, the review to the right here, is playing at the same time slot at HSBG. We’ll give them a spin. (Aug '25)  |
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Max Gomez Memory Mountain Taos, New Mexico artist Max Gomez grew up absorbing country blues and folk influences in a supportive regional NM music scene where he released his 2013 debut album Rule the World on New West Records. This release, recorded over about a week in a makeshift studio in an old house in Los Angeles with producer Mark Howard (known for engineering and producing projects for Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, and others), marks his first full length since then. It’s a solid singer songwriter-crafted Americana folk record of mostly the singer, his Kris Kristofferson-like voice, and his guitar with the occasional accompaniment of a slide guitar and female singer.This is perhaps the performance we’re most looking forward to at HSBG. (Aug '25)  |
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Sagittaire Coventry Suite Pt. 1 Coventry Suite Pt. 1, the experimental hip-hop and R&B project from Sagitairre’s Ivan Mairesse. He’s calling it “collision music,” borrowing the term from Bill Laswell who used it to unite artists from divergent sound worlds to create something unexpected. Mairesse does that here, a release that doesn’t feature his voice, but leans on others to sing, passing the mic to R&B singer Brynne Faler, soulful crooner Mellow Marcy, rapid-fire rapper brz, and the spellbinding Rebecca Ramirez. It largely works here. The downtempo closer “Kiss” may be the best on this release. (Aug '25)  |
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Big Thief Double Infinity This is the sixth studio album for Brooklyn based Big Thief. Doesn’t seem that long since we were chatting with some mutual friends of the bands after Masterpiece, their 2016 debut. The band has done very well for themselves since, and this album should continue to trajectory despite having lost their longtime bassist. The album was cut with a live recording process, giving it immediacy and warmth. “All Night All Day” is the standout song here. (Sept '25)  |
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OK Cool Chit Chat Chicago duo Bridget Stiebris and Haley Blomquist Waller's first full-length LP written, performed, and produced entirely by the duo. This romps through some rock songs that show some punk energy, include in a couple of emotive minor chords in the mix, are sprinkled with a couple of more artsy/math-rock plucky guitar notes and girl-girl harmonies. It's a decent collection of punchy, pop-punk, which we imagine would be a fun show to see at The Kilowatt. Fans of Billy Carter should give this one a listen. (Aug '25) |
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Modern Nature The Heat Warps Cambridge, UK band adds a new guitarist pulls a little away from the free, open-ended approach they had spent the previous five years working towards, to something more structured. This results in a simple rhythm section backing a couple of reverb and tremplo heavy telecasters (we’d guess) slowing plucking chords around each other. Think Luna crossed with Low. A simplified Great Lakes Swimmers. It’s one step above slowcore. A little mellow and rhythmically droney, consistent, no surprises, but very nice music. (Aug '25) |
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Rene Najera Pained Life Minnesota-born, L.A.-based musician, mastering engineer, and co-founder of the Jungle Gym label Jared Carrigan records solo and in collaboration under a web of guises. René Najera is his longest running and most liquid. This release took shape from the seeds of a 2023 set prepared for a string of shows in Japan and later remixed, finessed, and expanded by a cast of collaborators. Like we believe most musicians should say, Carrigan calls the album a “memory book” – each track a snapshot of cities and sessions, filtered through a fusion of club smoke, mood house, psychic acid, and sunrise electronica. We spent a long time trying to figure out if this was ambient that wants to be club music, or club music that wants to be ambient. Beautiful soundscapes with incessant 160bpm drum beats over them are common. While we didn’t answer that question, the release caught our attention enough to warrant some good late night listens. “The Seasons” is our favorite off this album. (Aug '25) |
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Marrisa Nadler New Radiations We love that there’s a goth folk artist on the Sacred Bones label who comes from Nashville. On her tenth official full-length record Nadler’s lush voice and intricate fingerpicking are front and center. She layers Everly Brothers–style harmonies over somnambulic, dreamlike, lonesome soundscapes—fuzzed-out distortion, Hammond organ, and ominous synthesizers—that elevate her warm vulnerability with texture and atmosphere. “It Hits Harder” is our favorite from the release. (Aug '25) |
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Foot Ox A Lighthouse With Silver Dog Eyes Of this Portland, Oregon based artist, Bandcamp notes: “The long-running Portland act returns with a new record blending folk, country, punk, and experimental rock.” This is a well produced and well played of nice Ameriana songs. (Aug '25) |
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Pink Butler Can We Go Back Bandcamp says of the release from this Stockholm, Sweden group: "A crackling six-track EP that merges the freedom of jazz with the contemporary sounds of hip-hop and soul." This is well produced and delivered, but it's a type of music we're just not fans of. Vocalists ooh, ooh, oohing ad nauseam while the smooth jazz plays in the background. Not for us. (Aug '25)  |
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Good Good Blood Little Sparrow Written in the throws of grief, "Little Sparrow" is an album of questions, of wondering, of wanting, of asking “will we make it through?” Featuring re-worked versions of previously released 'Flowers Bloom' and 'Forever Scars', each song was initially recorded at home, sparse arrangements of just acoustic guitar and vocals. “Flowers Bloom” is our pick for best song here. (July '25) |
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Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire Vol. 2: The Y.O.Uprint From Bandcamp: "Whether spitting over brash boom-bap or coasting over smoky, luxuriant jazz, the veteran Brooklyn rapper always hits the mark." We like his name a little more than his beats as nothing really stuck out to us. (July '25)  |
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Alex G Headlights Pitchfork writes of this Philadelphia artist: “Alex Giannascoli upgrades to hi-fi dad rock and sails home with a major label debut worthy of the all-time indie graduations.” There’s a nice, looks like hand drawn image of a horse for his bandcamp profile image and this album features what looks like a hand painted image of Frodo waving his sword at the moon … and the album as some nice songs. (July '25) |
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Open Mike Eagle Neighborhood Gods Unlimited Pitchfork writes: "On his sly, artful new album, the Los Angeles-based rapper confronts an inhumane information society with determination to claw back a sense of self." These are some good rhymes against a backdrop that mixes up jazzy lounge with old media snippets and other samples as backdrops. "Michigan j. wonder" is our favorite from the release. (July '25) |
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Wet Leg Moisturizer Bandcamp writes: “The UK duo’s second album is a near-reinvention, an unbridled and clear-eyed testament to their songwriting chops that hones their vision and separates them from the pack.” We like Wet Leg. This release has some really good songs that have made our heavy rotation, including “pond song” and “u and me at home” (July '25) |
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Che Rest in Bass The second studio album by American rapper Che earned a Best New Music nod from Pitchfork. We can see some interesting elements here in this blending of rap/hip-hop with 808 synths sounds in more of an EDM or hardcore framework than RnB. Add in a vocal element that sounds like Michael Jackson's high pitched voice rapping with a good amount of autotune. Maybe some novelty there, but just not that enjoyable of a listen to us. (July '25) |
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Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band New Threats from the Soul This is the second studio album from Ryan Davis, a Louisville, Kentucky based visual artist, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter, and it's a good one. You know immediately from hearing Davis' Mid-Western/Southern baritone warbling over some sweet Americana melodies that this is a good easy listen. The songs are long – 7 to 9 minutes each – providing plenty of room to get the steel pedal, banjo, harmonica, washboard, and every other instrument laying around the room in the mix, and giving Davis a lot of time to get his thoughts out there in their colorful details. This is all over our Country Playlist. (July '25) |
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Midnight Rodeo Chaos Era Bandcamp calls the debut album from these Nottingham, UK artists “Spaghetti Western-inspired psych rock with the dramatic sweep of a Morricone score and the lo-fi gristle of a "Nuggets" compilation.” Yeah, they can probably add a surf rock influence there as well. Sounds like this bunch of 20 somethings hit a recording studio deep in the Welsh countryside during an Indian summer heatwave and recorded the album as analogue as possible over 10 days. We suspect this band would be fun to catch at a live show. “Daisy” is best in show here. (July '25) |
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Mera Bhai Now I Need You We can see this EP from London artist Bhai being spun in the evening at Miami Beach night clubs. It is a nice high energy a mix of Tropicalia, disco, techno and 90s acid house. (July '25) |
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Cerrone & Christine and the Queens - Catching Feelings Catching Feelings Bandcamp says "The godfather of Italo-disco and the art-pop revolutionary come together for a French Touch-indebted EP that grabs you by the collar." This is a 70s style disco romp. If you want to get your Studio 54 vibes going, give this one a spin. (July '25) |
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Silent Titan Dream State Australian underground hip-hop producer Silent Titan returns with a hip-hop feast featuring a bunch of collaborators and beast which, in his words, "were created specifically as a canvas for lyricists to heavily explore their inner thoughts and their philosophy of the "Dream State" of sub-conscious process. We're digging the production qualities and backing psych jazz loops and lounge ready snippets. "Mindscape" is our pick here. (July '25) |
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Tanner York Welcome to the Shower Bandcamp writes: “Youthful, eccentric bedroom pop symphonies from an Asheville outsider.” Upon listening (and not seeing any images prior) we spent a lot of time trying to figure out if this was a female or male singing these sweet tunes over a jangly guitar in a decidedly lo-fi no frills production. There’s sort of a Monkeys like vibe to Lucky Me, which, in York’s quest for “Pop pop pop pop music!,”, he might like to be associated with. (July '25) |
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Hebi Katana Imperfection Of the fourth release from this Tokyo-based “doom metal” group, Bandcamp notes: “The … band apply the principles of wabi-sabi, a Japanese tradition meaning “beauty of imperfection," to their harrowing doom metal.” This is some raw stuff that I might call lo-fi hard rock rather than doom metal … so as to not ruffle the feathers of any true doomers as they read this from Northern Europe. Yume wa Kareno is the song to listen to on this release (July '25) |
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Lupe de Lupe Amor Bandcamp notes that dreamy, epic arrangements, surging dynamics, and brassy flourishes make the Brazilian post-rockers impossible to resist. This is not bad stuff. We sort of like how a number of songs here sort of stop at the halfway mark, reset, and go a different direction. But the EP is not anything we have a lot of Amor (to pardon the pun) around. (July '25) |
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Xeeland Master Builder Bandcamp says: "Pulsing drone, krautrock rhythms, and spacious textures make for an immersive and hypnotic listen. Pure head music for heads." In typical The Quietus style, they say "...an apt soundtrack for the quaking concrete of brutalist buildings...sometimes unexpectedly pleasant, sometimes rough, sometimes hypnotic, sometimes meditative, and sometimes bombastic." We like the hypnotic minimalist, on the border of dark ambient, drone coming from this Utrecht, Netherlands artist. Very good for late night headphone listening. (July '25) |
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Plume Girl Unnameable Glory Plume Girl is the alt-experimental solo project of Hindustani classical singer, composer, and Austin, TX based artist Sowmya Somanath. For her second full-length as Plume Girl, Somanath brings together Hindustani classical improvisation, ambient soundscapes, and experimental pop. We enjoy this release, love her traditional singing and got a kick out of hearing the Indian street sounds in the distant background of some recordings. We must admit, we were waiting for some of these songs to build up into a sort of Bombay Dub Orchestra-like perfect for the lounge release, but they stayed more in the ambient realm. This is in that same Hindustani neoclassical vein as Ganavya, who we reviewed (and also praised) in last month's haul. (July '25) |
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Keyone Sayonara Bandcamp notes: "Turkish-Belgian producer crafts lush hip-hop instrumentals that employ chopped-up samples sourced from rare Japanese records." We have Hotarukago and Sasurainouta on our Cinematic playlist, although the whole album could easily belong there. This is a must listen for fans of Isaintjames. (July '25)
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Sally Dige Holding the Sun Sally Dige ("Dee-Ah") is a multidisciplinary-audiovisual artist based in Berlin. Sally records and produces her own music and manages and creates every aspect of her creative work herself. The standout track on this release is her single Sow the Path. There are two versions here for you to choose from the poppy, synth laden original or the strings version, which we like a little better. (July '25) |
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Cleo Reed Cuntry The NYC artist writes that “This album is a ‘state of the cuntry’, if you will. An address where I respond to the chaos and hell-making that happens here. This album is very current, and I don’t think there’s any other time that I could’ve written it. It is a folk rap album, that tells stories of American labor, empirical agenda, and intends to hold space for the working class to understand the ways in which we have been exploited or have participated in the exploitation of others. It also deals with the body, particularly the Black Femme Body.” We are intrigued by this “folk rap.” The album has a unique sound that really works on her best songs such as “Women at War.” (July '25) |
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Wolfgang Perez So Ouco This is the third solo album from Wolfgang Perez, a half-German, half-Spanish songwriter, arranger, guitarist and sound artist from Essen, currently based in Cologne. It was produced from an 18-month creative residency in Rio de Janeiro while the artist went on a university exchange to study music composition and quickly found himself immersed in the city's rich musical landscape. We appreciate that this covers a lot of ground--pop, latin, bossa nova, experimental--often doing so all at the same time in the same song. If Cornelius was tasked to remix Gilberto Gil, we could imagine it sounding like this. "Nem Quero Asas" is our favorite song here. (July '25) |
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Far Caspian Autofiction Indie pop from Leeds, this one man band featuring Joel Johnston recording, playing and mixing everything himself features melancholy, mopey vocals song a little softly and jangling guitars. A little mopey and monotonous for us. We are not fans. (July '25) |
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Sound on Tape Price The debut album from Cleveland, Ohio electronic artist Marcus Alan Ward, AKA Sound On Tape, is an interesting mix of RnB, Hip-Hop, Gospel, Garage, and Jazz songs that the artist calls an exploration of Black American storytelling. This release covers a lot of territory; it's a very interesting listen. (July '25) |
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Lelo New Detroit Pitchfork says: "On his debut album, the Detroit rapper wrestles with his home scene's growing influence on mainstream rap. He offers a portrait of his city that's both loving and critical, grounded in stories that couldn't have come from anywhere else." We're listening to this at the same time that we're spinning similar artists from roughly the same genre, including Sounds on Tape, Open Mike Eagle, The Silent Titan and others. This one was probably the least impressive of the bunch. (July '25) |
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Olev Muska New Estonian Waltzes Estonian-Australian folk synthesist, composer and visual artist brings us some experimental folklore-glitch alchemy. We're catching way more digital glitches and electronic noises that we are Estonian traditional folk or waltzes. This is a chalk on the blackboard sort of no thank you for us. (July '25)  |
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Pulp More Pitchfork writes “After 24 years, Jarvis Cocker and his baroque-pop band return to remind you, with rakish wit and horny wisdom, that your whole life is just one big coming-of-age saga.” While most Midwestern US kids were listening to Korn and Limp Bizkit in the mid- to late-90s, we were fully locked into Britpop. That’s when Pulp’s His ‘n’ Her’s 1994 release popped up on our radar and stayed hit heavy rotation with our CD player. We approached this release with the usual skepticism we apply to old rock bands resurrecting their careers, but we may end up liking this more than any of their releases back in the day. It seems some of the sharper edges have been taken off, especially towards the end of the release in songs such as “The Hymn of the North”, “Background Noise”, “Partial Eclipse,” and “A Sunset” which does some interesting borrowing from the 1970’s Coca Cola “I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing” commercial. (June '25) |
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BC Camplight A Sober Conversation The seventh studio album from Manchester-based American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Brian Christinzio, aka BC Camplight, is sort of a quasi-concept record as he confronting a shocking childhood abuse trauma while embracing sobriety. Quick note to self - don't offer to buy him a cocktail when we see him at his upcoming Hotel Cecil, Copenhagen show. We've loved BC's whimsical tragic-comedic musings over his intricate piano laden melodies since 2020's brilliant Failure To Launch, which we discovered right around the time we also discovered John Grant, whose similarities -- you know, US expats in UK, solo artists with histories of depression writing sensitive personal pop rock songs sung with big baritone voices and who don't shy away from writing ballads – are noticeable. This one has a lot of those same ingredients. We love "The Tent," "Bubbles in the Gasoline," "When I Make My First Million," and the closer "Leaving Camp Four Oaks" which we hope allows him to really leave that situation behind him. (June '25)  |
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King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Phantom Island Pitchfork notes: "The prolific Australian group lavishes its gently trippy compositions with orchestral arrangements. The results are often frustrating and overstuffed, but include occasional sparks of magic." We're coming to King Gizzard a little late – they hit our radar after having something like 20 studio albums already under the belt, this one makes 27 studio albums – but we like this and are not put off by the orchestrations. They continue to be, in our opinion, the best jam band out there - well, nod to Chris Robertson there too. (June '25) |
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Hayden Pedigo I'll Be Waving As You Drive Away Pitchfork writes: "On his most majestic and sincere record yet, the Texas guitarist plays with grace and power, evoking the gentle emptiness of the American West." Yeah, they are spot on. This is a very nice release. Another one that sort of reminds us of William Tyler's Modern Country with its Americana style guitar based instrumentals. We have "All the Way Across" on our Mellow Morning playlist. (June '25) |
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Bunny White The Higher the Hair, the Closer to God The debut album from Chicago-based artist Bunny White – actually, Baltimore-native saxophonist, vocalist, and pianist Marina White -- signals that we have our very own, Midwestern USA version of Lily Allen. Albeit catchy Lily Allen-like pop that also touches on of a hint of country, some bossa nova, and some old-timey ragtime melodies through a Lynchian, John Watersesque lens. We give this a +1 just for album title and matching cover art. This album is like a package of Peanut M&Ms to us; we can put it on and consume the whole thing start to finish with a smile on our face. Not sure we’ve satisfied our pangs for a savory meal while doing so, but we sure were happy. ”Coldesac” and “Con Artist” are on our heavy rotation. (June '25) |
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Annahstasia Tether From Pitchfork: “On a striking debut LP, the Los Angeles musician’s intricate acoustic arrangements and intimate lyrics attest to the strength of her vision; the nuances of her singing speak to the singularity of her voice.” There are some heavy hitters in the list of the albums producer’s - folks that have worked with Frank Ocean, Lana Del Rey, Cassandra Jenkins, and Liv.e in the past. The production in these soulful, poetic folk songs is every bit as masterful as Annahstasia’s distinctly resonant vocal performance. Beaming torch songs are really not our thing, but we can see this release picking up a number of year end accolades and awards. It’s very well done. "Villian" is our pick for best song on the release. (June '25) |
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Nick Leon A Tropical Entropy Pitchfork notes: “The exceptional debut album from the Miami producer captures the lively, menacing, and sensual sounds of his home—a dembow pop record made for those muggy, electric nights.” We also like this release, but have a little trouble slotting it into any regular listening patterns. It’s sort of ambient meets techno. Glitchcore and break beat over RnB. Relaxing music you can’t relax. Hyper beats delivered in a way that that’s difficult to dance to. That said though, the production and craftsmanship here is top notch. (June '25) |
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U.S. Girls Scratch It Pitchfork writes: “On her most immediate and accessible album yet, Meg Remy trades the ’80s electro-funk of Bless This Mess for ’60s country tinged with Nashville and Vegas, embracing all her contradictions with gusto.” To us this sort of seems like a torch song singer working with an Americana band doing a song written by an indie rock songwriter. (June '25) |
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The None At Hope / In Civic Pride Two songs here from London-based rockers The None that we'd probably categorize as sort of punk metal mashup--which we find interesting just because of that alone. The band calls the release "a stark collision of unfiltered noise and striking melody. Equal parts chaos and craft, THE NONE's sound channels the edges of post-hardcore with the weight of something more introspective." (June '25) |
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Jess Kerber From Way Down Here Bandcamp is saying "haunting folk music with echoes of Mazzy Star, Neko Case, and Florist." We can see a more Americana version of Mazzy Star here. It's a nice release, but nothing really stood out for us. (June '25) |
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Low End Activist Superwave EP UK artist Low End Activist twists grime and dubstep structures to gnarly, tweaked soundscapes indebted to dystopian sci-fi and social realism. Combing back through his archives of samples and stems, he piecing together tracks with a sharp, surgical intent and stop-start dynamics that often have moody, eerie atmospherics amidst the clicks and crunches. Not necessarily something we'll have on heavy rotation, but a pretty solid release. (June '25) |
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S.G. Goodman Planting by the Signs Pitchfork writes "On her third album, the singer-songwriter depicts her Kentucky home with tactile clarity, populating her roots-rock songs with wry observations of small-town life." While we think there's nothing here to really love, there's a lot to like in this mellow Americana release. "I'm in Love" and "Michael Told Me" are probably the two best songs here. (June '25) |
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Lorde Virgin We usually find one or two songs we like off a Lorde album, but on Lorde’s fourth album, a return to the digital, physical sound of Melodrama we’re not finding a lot that we’re liking. (June '25) |
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Gelli Haha Switcheroo This is Gelli Haha's first full-length album, featuring 10 tracks melding alternative dance, disco-pop, and surreal humor. This is not our cup of tea. (June '25)
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Meggie Lennon Desire Day We find there are usually a couple of really catchy tunes on Montreal, Québec artist Meggie Lennon releases. This one is no different, we're digging "My Best Self" and "Vicious Cycle," both of which have the lush arrangements and occasional synths backing an indie rock female singer with a soft voice that at no time will ever be accused of oversinging a song. But her best songs throw a minor key in the melody to twist it up and make it catchy. (June '25) |
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a.s.o. A.S.O. We enjoyed reading about Trip-hop's recent comeback in recent email from the Times' The Amplifier. They offered up some nostalgic 90's tracks as sort of a primer on the origin of the genre: Portishead, Sneaker Pimps, Cibo Matto, Thievery Corporation, and of course Massive Attack's "Teardrop." Of course, these were all regular listeners for us back then (and still are on "tunefilter-pary-chill" playlist Spotify playlist). This release was offered as part of the new wave of trip-hop. We wholeheartedly agree. This completely fits the vibe-and has us wondering, where was this music for the last two decades? (June '25) |
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Whitney's Playland Long Rehearsal Long Rehearsal is a three-track, single-sided 7" EP marking the San Francisco band's first recording as a four-piece ensemble The EP bridges jangle-pop and crunchy '90s alt-rock, featuring Inna Showalter's vocals over introspective, emotionally charged lyrics. We think 90's style twee pop – sort of Allo Darlin', Tullycraft or even other bay-area local band from the 90's The Orange Peels .. .only with bright girl vocals. (June '25) |
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Peter and Kerry You, Me and the Moon This release from UK songwriting duo Peter and Kerry is getting folks putting it in the same vein as Belle & Sebastian, Fleetwood Mac, and Yacht rock bands. We're thinking poppier versions of a little more recent bands such as Phoenix, Peter Bjorn and John, maybe even MGMT might be a better description. This is a good pop album that likely won't piss off too many people when you pop it on. (June '25) |
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Cain Lineage The producer and musician originally from the Highlands of Scotland who used to be a professional bagpiper continues his percussive-driven, house and experimental electronic with hints of "Celtic" music thrown in. We find the music the best when the Celtic roots show through more than the club music, but that's few and far between - For example, portions of songs such as "Ruthven.". The songs with other Celtic influences sound more inspired by Bombay Dub than what we'd imagine traditional Scottish music sounding like. A lot of the second half of the album sounds like the soundtrack for the 80's film Body Double. (June '25) |
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Zimmer90 Makes Me Wanna Dance We're off to Cannes for the Lions Festival of Creativity and these cats are playing at one of the beach parties. So we thought we'd familiarize ourselves with them ahead of time. This is falcetto singing sparklely pop rock that will probably be perfect for evenings on the beach. (June '25) |
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Watchhouse Rituals Another one that hit our radar due to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. The Chapel Hill, North Carolina duo of Andrew Marlin & Emily Frantz.started their careers over a decade ago playing coffee shops and local restaurants around North Carolina until they built up an audience large enough to sell-out shows at legendary venues like Red Rocks and the Ryman Auditorium. They’ve earned a reputation for creating music that “redefines roots music for a younger generation” (Washington Post). We like their very easy listening Americana tunes with lots of picking and guy-girl harmonies. Our favorites are Shape, Rituals, False Harbors, and In The Sun. We’ll be laying out the blankets at Hellman Hallow, sipping some beer and whiskey and catching these guys play. (May '25) |
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Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke Tall Tales Pritchard and Thom Yorke from Radiohead/The Smile team up on a record that is surreal and strange. Since 1997’s Ok Computer, we’re pretty much down for most any release Thom Yorke is a part of. Yorke’s vocal approach is so distinct, it’s not hard to lump The Smile as just a Radiohead extension. This one is a little different though. While some songs do give off a Radiohead vibe when Yorke is singing – e.g., “The White Cliffs,” or “This Conversation Is Missing Your Voice” – there are plenty of other moments when Pritchard is singing or there’s no vocals and the music drifts off to far-away from Radiohead land. Which isn’t necessarily bad, but may take some repeated listens to warm up to. (May '25) |
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I'm With Her Wild and Clear and Blue This came on our radar as the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2025 lineup was announced. Listening to this release, we can absolutely imagine these guys -- singer-songwriters Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, and Sara Watkins – up on the Rooster Stage (or wherever they’re placed.). The group’s debut album garnered much acclaim as their single, “Call My Name,” took home the 2020 Grammy Award for Best American Roots Song. This album brings luminous harmonies in mostly mellow traditional folk song packages. Our favorite on this release though is the knee-slapping, fiddle and mandolin dueling “Find My Way to You.” We look forward to hearing that one live at HSBG 2025. (May '25) |
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Watchhouse Rituals Another one that hit our radar due to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. The Chapel Hill, North Carolina duo of Andrew Marlin & Emily Frantz.started their careers over a decade ago playing coffee shops and local restaurants around North Carolina until they built up an audience large enough to sell-out shows at legendary venues like Red Rocks and the Ryman Auditorium. They’ve earned a reputation for creating music that “redefines roots music for a younger generation” (Washington Post). We like their very easy listening Americana tunes with lots of picking and guy-girl harmonies. Our favorites are Shape, Rituals, False Harbors, and In The Sun. We’ll be laying out the blankets at Hellman Hallow, sipping some beer and whiskey and catching these guys play. (May '25) |
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Kira Hummen Her Legacy We were drinking some beer in Düsseldorf not too long ago, wandering around, taking in some of the local culture. Fast forward a couple of months and this EP from Düsseldorf-based artist Kira Hummen comes across our in box. It blends nuanced folk, indie-rock, experimental and art-pop elements, featuring sensitive arrangements that emphasize pauses, layered harmonies, cello, and synth textures. A lot of ingredients we typically like, yet we're not vibing with the songwriting and songs here. (May '25) |
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Goddess Goddess Recorded under the moniker Goddess and released via Bella union, this is the first studio album from London based artist and Savages' drummer Fay Milton. It's a strong debut release, consisting of ten tracks blending dream pop, post-punk, indie rock, and electronica. It has songs like Shadows that are a little more moody rock a la Lana del Rey but then jumps to Fuckboy, a raunchy anthem that sounds like it was written by Megan thee Stallion and executed by M.I.A. (May '25) |
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Vioflesh Nostalgia Bandcamp writes: "Killer industrial-edged songs from this Chilean group with snaking melody lines that are both hooky and harrowing. Fantastic!" We like this, 80s industrial vibe as well. Imagine Sisters of Mercy with a female singer. (May '25) |
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Moin Belly Up Avant-garde rock from a UK trio comprising Joe Andrews, Valentina Magaletti, and Tom Halstead of Raine, this EP revisits the band's minimalist, experimental sound, featuring jazz-influenced rhythms, hypnotic percussion, looped vocal samples, and precisely layered textures. We're not to crazy about it. (May '25) |
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Anja Churchill Children of the North Bandcamp: “The artist and producer channels grief and generational trauma into traditional Swedish folk contoured by strings, keys, and steel guitars.” This is a nice, concise release of 5 songs for 56 SEK. KofD from the Exciting Sounds of Savo Audio Consortium was walking around the tunefilter offices when this came on. She gives it a thumbs up. We have Wake Up Soldier on heavy rotation. (May '25) |
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The Vernon Spring Under a Familiar Sun This is the third long play from The Vernon Spring, the solo project of British composer and producer Sam Beste. It's mostly piano-led instrumentals that fuse some electronics in the background, coupled with some soft vocals at times, to create elegant, empathetic music. It's a decent rainy Sunday afternoon listen. Mustafa is perhaps the best song here. (May '25) |
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Nicole Lawrence Time In Love "A scorcher! Fans of early Heartless Bastards, take note: The latest from Nicole Lawrence is a bluesy, smoldering delight" writes Bandcamp: By the album cover, we thought we were going to get some Janis Joplin-style rock and roll. This is slow moving blues rock, anchored by big fuzzy guitar solos and or steel pedal guitar and Lawrences' vocals, which surprisingly ring clear and bright at the front of the mix rather than matching the reverb drenched grit and gravel of the lead guitar. We think the slightly peppier, Americana songs like When I Get Home or the slower No Station work best with her vocal style. (May '25) |
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Amy Millan I Went To Find You "Dynamically boundless, sentimentally rich folk by a celebrated Canadian singer and guitarist, also of Stars and Broken Social Scene" says Bandcamp. We pop this, the third of Millan's solo albums, but first since 2009, on and the first song "Untethered" immediately hits us as a modern, indie-folk version of "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac. That's probably the highlight of the album for us though. The rest of it is a fine recording. But it's no Honey From The Tombs, her brilliant 2006 debut solo release. Ironically, lost river diamonds, an ambient piece of falling rain scapes may be the best song here. (May '25) |
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Gazella Vias The second album from the five-piece ensemble from Valencia, Spain blends electronic, downtempo digital work with shoegaze, psychedelia, and '90s post-rock influenced analog instrumentation. The album was self-produced by the band, who did a knock up job of it, but they seem to have made the decision to treat the vocals more as another instrument and pushing it down in the mix rather than featuring Raquel Palomino's Jenny Hval-like vocals. Overall, this is a very nice album and probably best listened to in its entirety rather than for any single song. But if you were to single out one song here for best in show, it's the opener Volver. (May '25) |
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Kilynn Lunsford Promiscuous Genes This is kind of weird stuff. Pitched as a mix of post-punk, dub, art punk, and pop - we'd throw a heavy dose of experimental to that description. Multi-tracked spoken word over rhythmic drumming. "Nice Quiet Horror Show" both in listening to the song as well as the title probably describes the music pretty well. But if you listen to that and still don't get it, take a gander at that album cover again in more detail. might be the as the If there was going to be a quirky M.I.A. "Paper Planes" style breakout, that might be "Disney Girls." If there was a, "Hey, That's Totally Normal Music" award issued for songs on this album, that would be "Saddest of Dreams." This might be one of our favorite albums that we don't have any songs on the heavy rotation. It's an adventure. (May '25) |
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Taj Mahal & Keb Mo Room on the Porch Recorded across multiple studios including Stu Stu in Franklin and Addiction Sound in Nashville, this is the duo's second collaborative album following their 2017 Grammy-winning debut TajMo, the release showcasing a warm blend of blues, folk, jazz, and country. It's a fine release listening to on the porch on warm summer days. (May '25) |
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Sinemis Farewell Bandcamp writes: "Channeling political dissent into powerful experimental techno, the Turkish producer's debut is dancable protest music for turbulent times." We think it's more dark ambient than dance floor, but it's good stuff. (May '25) |
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GIGI FM Virgo Space Acid From Bandcamp: "The Berlin producer commemorates the Year of the Snake with an irresistible grab bag of techno, dub, and ambient." We think this is pretty good stuff and would have a great time digging this in a Berlin club in the early hours of the morning. (May '25) |
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Home Is Where Hunting Season From Bandcamp: "Florida emo band expand into country and Southern rock on their highly catchy third LP, produced by Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Joyce Manor)." Southern rock with some emo vocals is probably a pretty way to describe this album. Mechanical Bull is our pick for best song on the release. (May '25) |
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Sophia Kennedy Squeeze Me This is the third album from the Baltimore-born, Hamburg/Berlin-based indie-pop artist and it's beautifully quirky. The production uses Kenney's dual vocal styles—a commanding low register for almost spoken word sung moments that can spin up into a higher pitch just-on-the-verge-of-torch-song style perfectly, creating a lot of negative space to draw you in. The times between those quiet girl and her piano or Juna Molina-esqe plucky percussion moments are filled, but not overfilled, with all sorts of digital sounds. The songwriting here as a sort of Cate Le Bon style precision and crispness spitting out eccentric songs that run the gamut from danceable pop-single (Rodeo) to cinematic soundtrack (Upstairs Cabaret). While there's no individual song that blow my mind, this album as a whole is a great listen. (May '25) |
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ganavya Nilam Bandcamp says "The new record from the NYC-born, Tamil Nadu-raised artist is deeply spiritual, rich and moving." Boy, you can say that again. Two songs into the album and we're captivated, it's outstanding. We need to dig deeper. Co-produced by Nils Frahm (if you forgot him, go back and listen to "Ode" off 2015's Solo to remind yourself why you live life) at LEITER Studio in Berlin's Funkhaus complex. Song for Sad Times and Not a Burden are the highlights on a release that's perfect for late night listening in its entirety. (May '25) |
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Wave District Take Our Keys Away Bandcamp writes: "Pop punk from L.A. with a tendency to stray into looser terrain, blending elements of ramshackle indie rock." We can hear some Green Day-like vibes here without songwriting or hooks that are as catchy. (May '25) |
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Liftin Sprits & DJ Persuasion Transmission 96 From bandcamp: "An electrifying collab LP between jungle pioneer Liftin Spirits and DJ Persuasion, who was influenced by him." This is a nice release. Some good techno and drums and bass here. (May '25) |
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Ty Segall Possession Bandcamp: On his latest, Ty Segall delivers a batch of instantly timeless rock songs, immaculate in composition & execution. We think this is an all-around solid rock and roll album. Shoplifter, Possession, and Skirts of Heaven are all nice, rocking songs. (May '25) |
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Maia Friedman Goodbye Long Winter Shadow Bandcamp: "The New York artist, also of Dirty Projectors and Coco, showcases bespoke chamber pop brimming with textural warmth and spiritual energy." Yeah, we like this. It's in our wheelhouse. Mellow female lead, strong songwriting, good pedigree. We have "Vessel" on heavy rotation. (May '25) |
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The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus Rumours of Angels In case you were sleeping during their first 40 years--or perhaps not born yet--this is a reissue of a compilation album that spans a good amount of ground – from 1990 to 2015ish. Besides having a fantastically catchy name, the group is known for their fusion of folk, sacred music, industrial, and ambient sounds. Their work incorporates Christian imagery and draws inspiration from Eastern Orthodox traditions, creating a "unique and contemplative listening experience." Imagine a lot of This Mortal Coil with some additional lugubrious heaviness a la Anna von Hausswolff and a little Akron/Family covering rhythm on tribal drums. "She Moved Through The Fair" is our pick for best song here, but this is probably best listened to start to end for the mood rather than any one song. (May '25) |
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Sophia Kennedy Squeeze Me This is the third album from the Baltimore-born, Hamburg/Berlin-based indie-pop artist and it's beautifully quirky. The production uses Kenney's dual vocal styles—a commanding low register for almost spoken word sung moments that can spin up into a higher pitch just-on-the-verge-of-torch-song style perfectly, creating a lot of negative space to draw you in. The times between those quiet girl and her piano or Juna Molina-esqe plucky percussion moments are filled, but not overfilled, with all sorts of digital sounds. The songwriting here as a sort of Cate Le Bon style precision and crispness spitting out eccentric songs that run the gamut from danceable pop-single (Rodeo) to cinematic soundtrack (Upstairs Cabaret). While there's no individual song that blow my mind, this album as a whole is a great listen. (May '25) |
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Ezra Furman Goodbye Small Head We flagged this one because Bella Union is a fantastic label and we're going to listen to everything they put out. While we're relatively new to Chicago artist Ezra Furman, she is not new on the scene with this being her tenth studio album! She describes it "an orchestral emo prog-rock record sprinkled with samples." Like Youth Lagoon, this is also a release where the vocal can sound like they're coming from either a male or a female at different times. (May '25) |
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Now Now Does The Trick From bandcamp: "Stylishly shabby power pop from San Francisco's ever-fertile neu Paisley Underground scene." This stuff has a lo-fi feel to some of the twee pop coming out in the late 90s and early 00s mixed with a little early 60s la la la type songs. This would be a fun band to see at the Kilowatt or Thee Parkside. (May '25) |
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Coffin Prick Loose Enchantment Recorded at his home studio, Pancho's Dome, Coffin Prick's -- the moniker of Los Angeles-based musician Ryan Weinstein—latest album features eleven tracks that blend experimental rock, art-pop, and electronic elements. We like this album, mostly - but we realize that may be due more to how much it reminds us of Brian Eno's Another Green World than the song writing here. When Prick sings here, it's in a very Enoesque deadpan vocal style, double tracked and dripping with reverb. The instrumentals are pretty good here as well, incorporating field recordings, with many layers of synths and sounds to create journeys that run the gamut from slightly annoying to meditative. Weinstein collaborated with artists such as Steven Brown (Tuxedomoon), Alejandro Salazar-Dyer (Rincs), Kathy Lea (Soft Location), John Herndon (Tortoise), and Aaron Fernandez Olson (LA Takedown) and we suspect there might have been Talking Heads and other 80s synth band influences in that group. While we can't say we're going to be spinning a song or two on our heavy rotation, it's a very interesting album that we have no problem listening to. (May '25) |
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Only Now Timeslave III From Bandcamp: "Berkeley's Only Now drops 11 explosive tracks—absolutely volcanic dance music that grabs you by the shoulders & shakes you." We're trying to imagine the dancing that will happen to the bleeps, blips, screeches and scratches here. This is a bunch of really annoying jittery sounds that had our inner voice immediately thow up a "nope" not even a minute into the first song. When tunefilter HQ was on Pacific at Polk, weekend nights around 2AM we would hear the sound of clanking bottles through our open window as the bars and restaurants that shared a light well at the rear of the building emptied their trash cans full of recyclables into a giant hard plastic bin. Imagine that sound plus add one of those old fashioned buzzer alarm clocks going off and that's close to the experience of listening to this album. By the nineth indescript song of sharp, annoying experimental glitchcore noises, that inner voice was begging it to stop. Then came "Eyes White, Vision Inside," the tenth song on the album. The beeps and blips had subsided, and while there was still an annoying current of static running over the track, just hiding beneath that shroud was an interesting haunting old-timey Indian melody. We began to enjoy it. The second half of the album continued to evolve with a heavy glove of dark ambient trying to squeeze and smother the life out of the glitches and give us some redeption. (May '25) |
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Elsie Lange The Normal Discontents From bandcamp: "The Melbourne artist combines slackened guitar tones and dreamy vocals with stirring, R&B-inflected instrumentals." While nothing is really popping out with us here, this is a decent little Sunday afternoon listen. "Mend" is the best tune on this album. (May '25) |
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Car Seat Headrest Scout From bandcamp: "The first new record from Car Seat Headrest in five years, self-produced by Will Toledo, roars back with an expansive, emotional sound." To us it sort of sounds like Car Seat Headrest is growing up into big arena rock band. We think "Lady Gay Approximately" – probably the most unlikely song on this album to be played at an arena rock show – is the best in show here. (May '25) |
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William Tyler
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Jolie Laide
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Broncho
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Tamara Qaddoumi
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Lea Maria Fries
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Linying
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Sleigh Bells
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DJ Koze
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DJ Python i was put on this earth This five-track EP from Queens, NY artist DJ Python, the alias of DJ and producer Brian Piñeyro, takes a slightly different direction than his typical blend of reggaeton rhythms with ambient and deep house elements, featuring softer more ambient sounds with a hint of trip-hop that would be more appropriate for the lounge than the dancefloor. “Besos Robados” with Isabella Lovestory on the vocals sounds very turn of the century Massive Attack. Little wonder it’s our favorite on the release. (Mar '25) |
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Masha Qrella
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The Lewis Express
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8ULENTINA
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Crush of Souls
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Sharp Pins
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upsammy
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Saba and No ID
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YHWH Nailgun
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Jefre Cantu-Ledesma
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Hekla
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Sven Laux
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Puce Moment
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Whatever the Weather
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Franc Moody
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Arny Margret
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Hamilton Leithauser
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Fust
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Ingrown
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Zoe Mc Pherson
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Pale Blue Eyes New Place bandcamp: "The UK outfit unfurl stunning, slow-rolling psychedelia soundscapes with flickers of '90s Britpop and shoegaze." We're definitely hearing the 90s alternative in this one. Songs like "The Dreamer" seems like they could have come directly from Ocean Blue or Trashcan Sinatras. (Mar '25) |
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Lucy Dacus Forever is a Feeling From Pitchfork: "On her new solo album, the songwriter and Boygenius alum makes an impassioned, all-in gamble on love. So why does the music feel hamstrung by caution and daintiness?." We're also not particularly blown away by this. (Mar '25) |
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Split Moon More Clouds More Stars From bandcamp: "Hypnotic, syrupy space rock with anthemic choruses and even bigger riffs." We're okay with this stoner rock release. (Mar '25) |
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SOFY Another Day In Paradise From bandcamp: "The London artist bursts out the gate with an anthemic indie-pop record buoyed by bright tones, summery hooks, and crisp percussion." When you've gotten your fix of Sabrina Carpenter and Chapel Roan but are still looking for more, SOFY is for you. (Mar '25) |
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Summer Pearl
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Vil
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Unknown Mortal Orchestra
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Velvet Bloom
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Liv Solveig
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aya
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Perfume Genius
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Japanese Breakfast
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Water Margin
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Jeremy Bradley Earl
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Good Block
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Balthvs
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Yo La Tengo
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Fennesz
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Meagre Martin
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Ichiko Aoba
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Paraframe
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Optometry
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Tophouse Practice This Missoula, MT band, currently relocated to Nashville, is playing Hardly Strictly Bluegrass so we thought we’d give them a spin. Good stuff here. Fronted by wistful vocals, rich harmonies, and a tapestry of folk-rock instrumentation—violin, banjo, piano, electric guitars, so what genre does the band classify themselves? Folk? Bluegrass? Rock? Irish? Pop? We’re hearing all of the above. We can imagine “In Don’t Wanna Move On” being played in a large arena … if folk was played in large area. “Run” has some mean Southern Rock meets Appalachia sound and is our favorite from this release. Definitely worth catching at HSBG. (Feb '25) |
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Jason Bieler And The Baron Von Bielski Orchesta The Escapologist Forget the break beats, bleeps, blips, ambient soundscapes, samples and all the other musical inventions since the 1980s onwards, this is Rock. Driving drums, crashing cymbals, distorted guitars, blazing solos, straightforward 4/4 beats. What sort of rock? It borrows bits from many rock genres: we hear some T-Rex influences, late 70s hard rock, 80s hair bands, Metallica, even an arena rock ballad and sections of some prog rock thrown in there. Folks expecting music from this century may ask you to turn it off at the dinner party. (Feb '25) |
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Squid
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Sharon van Etten
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Panda Bear
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Youth Lagoon
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Charlie Needs Braces
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Horsegirl
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Rose City Band Sol y Sombra Sol y Sombra is the fifth studio album from Portland Oregon (as you would expect) band Rose City Band and it’s a good one. Good ole West Coast Americana (yeah, we’re coining that sub-genre right here and right now) that leans more towards folk -- with a small touch of jam band -- than it does country rock or pop. Sort of the same vein as fellow Left Coasters Vetiver, Whiskerman, or perhaps Logan Ledger before he split from the Bay Area to Nashville. West Coast Americana is mellow, slow rolling, plenty of sunshine and steel pedal, and Dead influences. It’s the exact stuff you want to be listening to sprawled out on a Mexican blanket sipping some Bulliet Bourbon and chasing it with a Trumer Pils in Hellman Hollow, which is exactly what we’ll be doing at HSBG while these guys play. Updated: did that, it was FANTASTIC. "Lights on the Way," "Radio Song," and "Seeds of Light" are our favorites here. (Jan '25) |
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Oklou choke enough Lindsey@nytimes liked Oklou’s new single (Viscus) with FKA twigs--which we agree was nice--so we decided to spin her lastest full length. “Wow, this is nice” was our first impression with this debut release from Oklou -- the moniker for French musician Marylou Mayniel, originally from Poitiers and based in London. It’s a mature release for a first long play, that gives songs space to breath, blending downtempo, ambient synth textures, rhythmic pulses, lots of French horn, haunting vocal effects and hints of Billboard-friendly pop vocals. Being a little selfish, we hope she doesn’t get involved with Big American Music. We can just see them over producing this for big arenas. We’re spinning “thank you for recording” and “family and friends” on heavy rotation. (Feb '25) |
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Kathryn Mohr
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Daneshevskaya
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The Weather Station
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Tunng
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Olivia Wolf Silver Bullet Wow, we're really proud of Olivia. Nice job, we love it! Looks like the move from SF/Sonoma to Nashville has paid off. We were looking forward to this release since we drank some whiskey with her and Taylor McCall at HSBG 2023, but were admittedly confused as 2024 seemingly brought more Instagram photos than music. But boom, album drops in Jan 2025 and it's a beautiful country rocker. There's steel pedal right next to Hammond B3, crunchy guitars next to banjos. Rockers right next to beautiful ballads like "The Veil", our favorite on this release. One of our tunefilter colleagues is hearing some Shania Twain. Way different than lil sis Avery's sounds with Ismay, but it looks like the talent runs deep in the family. Which, of course we long-time HSBG attendees and fans of Warren Hellman already know. (Jan '25) |
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C Duncan It's Only A Love Song C Duncan's fifth album, It's Only A Love Song, showcases the Scottish composer and musician's signature romanticism through lush orchestral arrangements and cinematic compositions. Drawing inspiration from artists like Scott Walker and The Carpenters, as well as film scores by Michel Legrand and Leonard Bernstein, Duncan crafts a collection that evokes the grandeur of classic Hollywood musicals. Alluvium, his previous album and his first release for one of our favorite labels, Bella Union, blew us away. We sort of didn't know what to make of it. This isn't really indie rock, it's not pop and nowhere near RnB. It comes off at times like show tunes, but not really. Maybe what the big band orchestras' playing to the dinner party crowds in the 40s and 50s might do if that was still a thing today in a musical vocabulary that now has synths and samples. We loved Allumium, which perhaps created a little too high of expectations for this one. Perhaps it's also due to the album title, but the "love song" sort of campiness seems to come on too strong here at times. (Jan '25) |
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Fcukers Baggy$$ This is the debut EP release from the NYC-based electronic-dance band. The sound weaves in elements of 90s/00s house, indie dance, and trip-hop, all underpinned by sneaky attitude and sensual vocals. “I Don’t Wanna” is our fav here, but we’d pick “Homie Don’t Shake” to shake up the dance floor a la Wet Leg mixed with Fat Boy Slim. (Sept '24) |
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BC Camplight The Last Rotation of Earth The sixth studio album from BC Camplight, a record centered around the agonizing break-up of his long-term relationship, appears to be is most successful yet. Funny how that happens. It's his first Top 40 album and received the most ecstatic reviews of his career - "masterpiece" (Sunday Times), "Masterful" (Uncut), "An extraordinary record" (MOJO). We have "She's Gone Cold" and "I'm Ugly" on heavy rotation. (May '23) |
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Pro Teens Dentistry This is around the sixth or seventh album from the Phoenix, Arizona indie rock band. It’s a decent recording of pretty straight forward stuff: guitar, drums and bass with some understated vocals wafting through the mix. Solid indie rock songs with a hint of pop here and there. “Glitter Glutch” is definitely the best song here, with a very catchy guitar lick running throughout. (Nov '22) |
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Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats South of Here In our 2025 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass prep, we’re spinning the fourth Studio album from Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats. The artist, originally from Missouri, got his breakthrough with the song “S.O.B.” off their self-titled debut (2015), a track that was originally just meant to close their live shows but ended up becoming a viral hit. Their sound is heavily influenced by classic soul and R&B — particularly the Stax Records roster like Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, and Booker T. & the M.G.’s — mixing horns, Hammond organ, and gospel-tinged fervor with raw, emotional lyrics. This is well done, but we’re not just big fans of our country music being mixed with soul. (Jun '24) |
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Courtney Barnett Things Take Time, Take Time Things Take Time, Take Time” is an assured leap forward for Barnett; a breakthrough really. This is Barnett at her most relaxed, creative and joyful. An exquisite look at the intimate, private world created by Barnett and drummer/producer Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint, Cate le Bon, Kurt Vile). It’s consequently her most beautiful and intimate record to date. Our pick for best song here is “Before You Gotta Go.” (Nov '21) |
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Pro Teens Dentistry This is around the sixth or seventh album from the Phoenix, Arizona indie rock band. It’s a decent recording of pretty straight forward stuff: guitar, drums and bass with some understated vocals wafting through the mix. Solid indie rock songs with a hint of pop here and there. “Glitter Glutch” is definitely the best song here, with a very catchy guitar lick running throughout. (Nov '22) |